ENEMY MOVES

Grey River Argus, 12 February 1941, Page 5

ENEMY MOVES

IN EAST EUROPE And East Asia SERIOUS LONDON VIEWS. [British Official Wireless] (Received February 11, 5.5 p.m.) RUGBY, February 11). Tne endorsement by the Prime Minister, in his broadcast address, of the Chief of the General Staff, Sir John Dill’s warning that strategic, economic and political stress in Europe may force Herr Hitler’ to attempt the invasion of Britain in the near future, has focussed attention in the press on diplomatic, as well as military, adventures in which the Nazis engaged in various parts of tne world. .. . ... A belief is now growing that, n invasion is in fact attempted, it will not be an isolated adventure. Developments in Italy make it increasingly clear that Germany, with her growing grip on Italy, recognises the importance of balancing her movement in Northern Europe with an attempt to disturb Britains supremacy in the Mediterranean. In face of the greater violence, which, in the view of Mr Churchill, the war is entering, there is no longer any serious attempt on the part of Germany to disguise the fact that preparations for the movement of German troops into, or through, the' Balkans are., contemplated. Developments in Roumania have reached a stage at which the withdrawal of the British Minister at Bucharest has been deemed necessary. The significance of Mr Churchill’s statement that Bulgaria's air fields are being occupied by German ground personnel, needs no emphasis. Contemporaneously with these developments, German efforts to make use of Japan to aid in the Nazi plans are being persistently pressed, regardless of the fact that, if her Far Eastern Axis partner accedes to the pressure, it will spell ruin for Japan There is abundant evidence tffat these efforts in the diplomatic field are directed towards urging a friendlier relationship between Russia and Japan, as the preliminary to a Japanese drive southward.

Although in London it is wellknown that more sober elements in Japan are deeply disturbed at the present prospects, the trucelence of the attitude of certain Ministers towards the United States and Britain has, at times, since the signing of the Tripartite Agreement, displayed a recklessness which suggests that tne full dangers of the situation are not fully appreciated in Tokio. It is a situation which is being carefully watched in London.

Complete confidence ;is felt Hhat any development that may occur as the result of yielding by the Japanese to Nazi pressure will not find Britain unprepared.